Are laptop CD/DVD drives interchangeable?

[Maetryx]

My buddy's Compaq Presario is having multiple problems, but the fact that the CD drive isn't working is basically killing my ability to troubleshoot the rest of it. It's been bad for a while and he's just lived without it.

So I have the service manual from Compaq/HP and I know how to take out the old one. Then I looked on Geeks and sure enough they sell about a dozen different laptop CD/DVD drives in the $25 to $45 range.

So my question is this: are all of these interchangeable? Can I just pick the one I like, be it a Sony, HP, Panasonic or whatever and plug it in?

 

[IlllI]

if its an old one you will need an old one. new ones will have different connection compared to older ones. might be easier to just get an external one. they are about the same price

 

[corkyg]

The drive itself is placed into a carrier, and that is what fits in the laptop. The replacement drive should be of the same form factor and type (SATA, PATA, etc.) as the original. The easiest swap would be from an identical laptop - which you might find on E-Bay.